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Carriedo Street – the Little Divisoria

I talked about the ever-crowded place called Divisoria in a previous post. I mentioned that Divisoria is the place to go to if you are looking for cheap (and bootlegged) items. My Facebook friends reacted on that blog post and they shared their own blog posts about the [in]famous Divisoria. Willy Jose talked about his Divisoria experience when he did his last minute Christmas shopping. Resty Odon posted about his thoughts about Divisoria.

The usual comment that I hear about Divisoria that it is crowded, alongside with other adjectives like cheap and affordable. The set-up in Divisoria is not unique. In fact, being crowded and chaotic is common to marketplaces around the country. Majority of palengke (market) around the Philippines is disorganized with vendors placing their wares in the middle of the streets. One place that is very similar to Divisoria is Carriedo Street, which connects Quiapo Church and Lacson Plaza or Santa Cruz Church.
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Carriedo Street as viewed from LRT-Carriedo Station.

The whole stretch of Carriedo is occupied by street vendors. You can buy pirated DVDs, t-shirts, toys, fruits, religious figurines, and other items just by walking along Carriedo.
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Looking for shirts? Find it in Carriedo.

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Street vendors block the entrance to some buildings like the Carriedo Arcade.

Carriedo Street is the most direct route from LRT-Carriedo Station to Quiapo Church but the pedestrians have to pass through a maze. They should be also wary of the presence of criminals who are looking for ways to snatch people’s cellphone and wallets.
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Prepare to pass through this crowd to reach Quiapo Church.

There was a time when the mayor of Manila cleared Carriedo Street of street vendors. Well, it seems that the mayor failed because they are back and Carriedo Street is full to the brim with vendors. If you are looking for an easy way to reach Quiapo Church, I suggest that you avoid Carriedo.